ST. CLOUD -- Stearns County prosecutors have filed charges against an Illinois man in the death of a 5-year-old child Friday.

Thirty-five-year-old Roberto Williams of Chicago is charged with two felony counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and a gross misdemeanor count of negligently storing a firearm.

The St. Cloud Police Department says shortly after 3:00 p.m. Friday officers responded to a report of a child who died at St. Cloud Hospital after sustaining a gunshot wound at another location. Police determined the shooting took place at a home in the 800 block of 10th Avenue North.

Authorities believe the shooting was accidental. A witness reported finding the child dead and alone in a bedroom with the 9mm handgun. The witness said Williams and the child's mother then returned home and Williams took the gun and carried it out of the residence.

Court records say police used surveillance video in their investigation to catch Williams putting two backpacks inside a garbage can outside the residence after the child was brought to the hospital.

Officers recovered the backpacks containing a .40-caliber folding rifle with an extended magazine, a 9mm handgun, nearly four grams of cocaine, 69 pills of ecstasy, and synthetic marijuana. Police say more drugs were found inside the residence.

The handgun was reported stolen in St. Cloud on October 29th.

Court records show Williams has three prior convictions of being a felon in possession of a gun and a robbery conviction in Illinois. He is also currently charged with 1st-degree aggravated robbery, being a felon in possession of a gun, and a 3rd-degree drug charge in Benton County for a previous crime. That case is set for trial in January.

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